In this article, our MPO has done something very few have: create a fund for innovative projects meant to limit climate impacts in the region. Is it only $80M over three years and is that tiny? Of course. But is it a new direction for MTC and is it ahead of the curve for other MPO’s? To my knowledge, yes. That is what the article is about. Does this same MPO still fund tons of road-widening projects in the guise of HOT lanes? Yes. Do they still allocate stim funds to resurrect dubious projects like OAC? Yes. I have no illusions about how far they are from ideal, but they are well ahead of most MPOs in the country and this article was not about whether or not they are ideal, but that they developed this fund.

http://sf.streetsblog.org/2009/10/30/san-jose-provides-model-for-bay-area-growth-and-transportation-needs/

In the San Jose LOS article above, you missed (or chose to ignore) the nugget of the piece, which is that San Jose’s LOS standard for its Downtown and TOD zones is the cutting edge approach to super-ceding outdated, auto-centric LOS standards. San Francisco is spending hundreds of thousands (if not millions) in consultant fees and staff time to develop a nexus study over the next years that will arrive at essentially the same conclusion that San Jose did in 2005, though San Francisco might not be as diligent about bringing together the community and the developers to hash out the details. I don’t know of other cities in CA that are doing more?

Does this change anything about the wretched history of San Jose’s 60 years of sprawling, suburban development patterns? No. The city has been built to cater to cars. I have no illusions about that. What the article addressed, however, was that San Jose is changing that framework in certain areas of the city and trying to encourage smarter development patterns that have less impact on the environment and create a more inviting public realm and tighter neighborhoods.

And there is positive change at the top of SJ’s DOT. Countless advocates and reformist transpo professionals have said the same thing about Hans Larsen: he’s an urbanist and he’s committed to reshaping the culture of automobility in his department. Maybe they’re all wrong, but I don’t have good evidence to show me as much.